A former Nevada governor says Mitt Romney’s campaign pressured his state’s Republican Party to move up its caucus date, a shift that complicates life for Iowa Republicans.

Romney’s alleged meddling drew fire today from rival candidate Rick Santorum, who said the former Massachusetts governor should apologize to people in Iowa and other early-voting states.

The Nevada GOP decided this week to push up its caucuses to Jan. 14 instead of Feb. 18. Former Gov. Robert List told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that Romney’s campaign pushed for the move, but wasn’t the main cause of it. “We moved the date for the good of Nevada, not the Romney campaign,” said List, who is a member of the GOP national committee. “But Romney’s people were pushing for us to move into January so that he could get some momentum and have a rising tide going into Florida.”

The Nevada date change puts more pressure on Iowa to move its caucuses into early January or maybe even into December. They had been scheduled for Feb. 6. Under party rules, Nevada stands to lose half its delegates to the national convention.

When asked to comment on the report that the Romney campaign pressured Nevada to move up its contest, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul responded with this statement: “Governor Romney is running a national campaign and is prepared to compete in every state. He believes that Iowa’s first in-the-nation caucus and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary should be preserved, and he looks forward to competing in every other nominating contest – whenever they are scheduled.”

Saul did not directly answer when asked whether the Romney campaign lobbied Nevada Republican officials to move up their caucuses.

Santorum slammed Romney over the issue. “It’s not surprising when a campaign pushes for a leg up on the competition,” the former Pennsylvania senator said through a spokesman. “But what is surprising in this case, is that reports show Gov. Romney’s campaign appears to be pushing a state to break the rules for his campaigns benefit.

“This is Gov. Romney’s second presidential campaign – every body knows him and what he claims to stand for, but like last time, he’s still not gaining real traction with conservatives,” Santorum said. “And trying to bully states so they’ll tailor the election calendar to favor your campaign won’t help his cause much. If these reports are true, Gov. Romney should apologize to the people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Their campaign has done a disservice to the political process, the early states and this nation.”

Drew Ivers, the state chairman for Ron Paul’s campaign, said he wasn’t surprised to hear that Romney allegedly sought to shorten the campaign season. A compressed calendar “favors the campaigns with the most money and establishment,” he said. “It makes sense for them to exercise that, but the issue is, is that the best thing for the nation? Is that the route a statesman takes?”

Ivers, who also is a member of the state party’s central committee, said a campaign like Paul’s benefits from having more time to explain the sweeping changes it wants to make to the country’s economy, foreign policy and other areas.

Former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez, who is on the committee that moved that state’s Republican primary date up to Jan. 31, said he had not heard of any campaign lobbying his state’s party on the issue.

The Florida decision sparked a cascade of scheduling changes. Martinez said his state party had no intention of irritating Republicans in Iowa or anywhere else. “Each state does what’s best for their constituency,” he said. He said he wishes the Iowans well. “I’ll be watching with great interest their caucuses.”